The requirements of transparent charity

I have posted earlier on my belief that people would give larger sums and more frequently to charity if the true consequences of their everyday choice alternatives were clear and credible. What does this mean, what would it take - and what remains for this to be put in place?

What this means is that most people in western society are stinking rich in a global context. One report estimates that "162 million people live in ultra poverty on less than 50 cents a day" and if you're curious as to your own position in the global income distribution you can check it out here.

What this means is that wealth is power. By spending your income you are determining how a portion of the world's global resources shall be used - you are directing people, bulldozers, trucks, factories, etc. towards the production of chewing gum, chocolate, sneakers, fashion clothes, books, etc. - OR towards the improvement of global public health, micro-charity for the poor, improvement of the environment or women's health, child education etc.

What this also means is that this is not a theoretical possiblity but a practical possibility! The organizations and systems through which your money would have this kind of impact are in place. When you buy a hamburger you could indeed have financed a malaria net for a mother with a newborn child somewhere in Africa instead.

However, we all know that it doesn't feel like saving a child is within our possibility set. The choice does not seem clear and present, the impact does not seem concrete and vivid, and the required action is very unclear.

I belive that web tools and technologies can be used as an extremly powerful way of unlocking private funds for development, aid and charity if they build on these insights. Used correctly these can provide:

• Individual overview:
  
• The person in the street needs a way of "clearing the clutter" of information and gaining a simple overview of what kinds of impact she can have on the world. My suggestion: Impact-indicators that are clear, vivid and simple within areas such as health, education, human rights, and that are small enough that the sum involved in financing one unit is relatively negligible. In health, an indicator could be lifeyears - or, if that is too "expensive" to finance, lifemonths. In this way, you bring it down to something that has a clear impact, allows you to easily aggregate and compare information from different projects from different organizations, and that is small enough that you can buy it without making it into a big deal.
• Improving trust by having clear, credible, simple information that shows why you should trust the different organizations running the projects, their track record, their budget/overhead/financing costs etc.
  
• A feeling of true contribution/impact
• Follow-up information on the projects (blogs, pictures, videos or something that makes the impact concrete and vivid for those who want to follow it in detail?)
• Summary statistics over time: "You have saved 412 lifeyears and 4 lifemonths so far"
  

In future posts I hope to explore already existing on-line tools/sites/etc. that provide pieces of this puzzle or that utilize parts of what we are talking about.

How about you? Do you have any suggestions? Know any sites that should be checked out? Have any thoughts or respo